Jayni Hein, our policy director, recently participated in the Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) inaugural listening session on the federal coal program. Hein provided recommendations for modernizing the fiscal terms of federal coal leases at this Washington D.C meeting, held on July 29th. DOI organized the event to solicit input from the public about how the the agency can best carry out its responsibility to ensure that American taxpayers receive a fair return on the coal resources managed by the federal government on their behalf. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell attended the listening session.
DOI currently manages more than 300 active coal leases covering about 475,000 acres in 10 states. Roughly 40 percent of the coal produced in the United States comes from federal coal resources. Our recent report analyzes how the fiscal terms for oil, gas, and coal leases could be modernized to ensure a fair return to the American public.